Tennis Betting Advice - March 2021
Big hitters out in force in Doha...
Wednesday 3rd March 2021
In your Ones to Watch email today:
The scoreboards continue to swing…
Close matches have been a bit of a theme for me lately.
Underdog pick Oceane Dodin had plenty of chances to beat Carolina Garcia on Tuesday. But a double fault at break-point down at 3-4 in the final set ultimately cost her. Even then, it took the favourite Garcia a nervy eight match points to close it out. The match ended 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
Away from our Ones to Watch selections, talented French youngster Ugo Humbert blew a lead against Jeremy Chardy yesterday. From 6-4, 5-4 up and serving for the match, Humbert went on to lose 4-6, 7-6, 7-6.
The 22-year-old also served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, and had two match points. But his 34-year-old compatriot Chardy reeled him in each time.
50-50 blast battles…
We’ve got one Outright Winner selection to look out for today, with 20/1 pick Ons Jabeur in action in the 2nd round at WTA Doha.
The 26-year-old Tunisian – on a quest for a first WTA title – takes on 2nd seed Karolina Pliskova.
That’s the headline match today, last up on court. You can tune in from 5.30pm onwards on Amazon Prime Video. Live streaming is also available on various bookie websites.
As noted in our Sunday-night preview, I’m firmly on Jabeur’s side in this match-up. She looked sharp and up for it in her 1st round victory, coming through a confident 6-2, 6-2 winner against Anna Blinkova.
Pliskova has had a Bye through to this stage, so to some extent she’s coming in cold here. Jabeur beat Karolina at this tournament last year, 2-1. In 2019, the Czech beat Ons at the US Open – also on hard courts, and also in three sets.
Another tight one could be in store today, then. The bookmakers certainly think so. Bet365 have this as a straight pick ‘em, with each woman priced at 10/11 (1.91). I’m firmly behind Jabeur, and I’m backing her to win this match.
Other close matches on the Doha schedule today include Aryna Sabalenka v Garbine Muguzura, Jelena Ostapenko v Jessica Pegula, and Maria Sakkari v Madison Keys.
In each of those, expect to witness some brutal ball striking. Those ladies hit the ball hard.
Ones to Watch
WTA Doha – Qatar Total Open
Match Winner
That’s all for me today. I’ve got my eye on a potential price-pick for Rotterdam on Thursday. I’ll need to see what happens in today’s matches first, and then how the markets shape up afterwards. If I’m going to pull the bet trigger, I’ll let you know first thing in the morning.
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Tom Wilson